Olesia Walch '22 Recruiting Profile

I was born in Bilyayivka, Ukraine. Eight years ago, my family adopted me and brought me to my new home in Raleigh, NC. I had to quickly learn English so I could enter a small private school. My parents gave me a lot of opportunities to try new things such as playing music and playing various sports. I am a multi-sport athlete, but by far, softball is my favorite sport. I quickly advanced from a recreation softball league to travel ball. In the Fall 2018, I had an opportunity to play with the 18u Carolina Impact. Even though I was the youngest on the team, I split pitching duties with a senior pitcher and pitched in bracket games and in three championship games. Overall my team won five Championships and two Second place finishes out of ten tournaments. I was also challenged by my coach to learn slap hitting so the team could take advantage of my speed. After one slap hitting lesson, the next game I got my first slap hit. Playing with a team of almost all High School Seniors pushed me to work harder and to play at their level, which made me a better player.

Since English isn't my first language, I work really hard in school for my grades. My middle school teachers recognized me for my hard work by awarding me the Faculty Cup. I work just as hard on the softball field.  I'm considering an undergraduate degree in Special Education and because I LOVE softball so much, I want to play softball in college.